stint
1 Americanverb (used without object)
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stints,
present (3rd person singular)
-
stinted,
past participle, past
-
stinting
present participle
-
to be frugal; get along on a scanty allowance.
Don't stint on the food.
They stinted for years in order to save money.
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Archaic. to cease action; desist.
verb (used with object)
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stints,
present (3rd person singular)
-
stinted,
past participle, past
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stinting
present participle
noun
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a period of time spent doing something.
a two-year stint in the army.
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an allotted amount or piece of work.
to do one's daily stint.
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limitation or restriction, especially as to amount.
to give without stint.
- Synonyms:
- tour of duty, tour, term, shift
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a limited, prescribed, or expected quantity, share, rate, etc..
to exceed one's stint.
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Obsolete. a pause; halt.
noun
verb
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to be frugal or miserly towards (someone) with (something)
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archaic to stop or check (something)
noun
-
an allotted or fixed amount of work
-
a limitation or check
-
obsolete a pause or stoppage
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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stintednessnoun
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stinternoun
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stintlessadjective
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unstintedadjective
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unstintingadjective
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stintedlyadverb
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stintinglyadverb
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unstintinglyadverb
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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stintsimple
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stintssimple
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have stintedperfect
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has stintedperfect
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am stintingprogressive
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are stintingprogressive
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is stintingprogressive
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have been stintingperfect progressive
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has been stintingperfect progressive
Past
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stintedsimple
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had stintedperfect
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was stintingprogressive
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were stintingprogressive
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had been stintingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of stint1
First recorded in 1150–1200; Middle English verb stinten, stenten “to cease,” Old English styntan “to make blunt, dull”; cognate with Old Norse stytta “to shorten” ( cf. stunt 1); noun derivative of the verb
Origin of stint2
First recorded in 1425–75; late Middle English; stynte, stint; further origin unknown
Explanation
The noun stint means a set amount of time in which you do something — often work of some sort. "She served a stint in the army, followed by a stint in an office setting, before settling on a career as a lounge singer." Unlike a project or vocation, a stint can refer to the stretch of time spent doing a particular job. You apply for a job, but you refer to your past stint in the Peace Corps. As a verb, stint means to be sparing or frugal, or restrict in a stingy manner ("to skimp"). "The school board chose to make cuts at the administrative level, rather than stint on the children's education."
Vocabulary lists containing stint
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
The first of those came just three minutes into his Chelsea debut in 1997, and it was with the Blues he enjoyed his best Premier League output before a later stint at Sunderland.
From BBC ● Oct. 16, 2026
Even — or especially — if it takes longer than a 15-day IL stint to make him right.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 16, 2026
It alleges the employee sent some of the files just after midnight on June 2, his final day of a six-month stint at OpenAI before going back to Apple, where the person worked previously.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 14, 2026
"Unfortunately the medium didn't perform as well as the soft. I had a good second stint and the pace was back, but I couldn't make the progress I needed."
From BBC ● Oct. 11, 2026
From my own brief teaching stint, I knew that colleges cleared out by June.
From "Geeks: How Two Lost Boys Rode the Internet Out of Idaho" by Jon Katz
She had stints on Bill Clinton’s presidential bids, and Hillary Clinton’s senatorial operation.
From Slate ● Oct. 15, 2026
Xavier joined the Journal in 2024 as a news associate, a two-year role that included stints covering politics in Washington, traveling the country for the national affairs team and reporting on financial markets.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 6, 2026
He has more than two decades’ worth of elite coaching experience, including stints in the English Premier League, Spain’s La Liga and Argentina’s top division.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 1, 2026
A-Baki's close ties with Trump, forged during multiple stints as Ecuador's ambassador to Washington, could help her stand out from a crowded field of eight candidates vying to lead the UN.
From Barron's ● Sep. 16, 2026
After stints in North Carolina, New York, Florida, Virginia, California, and a handful of other states, he returned home to southern Maryland and started work at a job that would change his life.
From "The Other Wes Moore: One Name, Two Fates" by Wes Moore
Five or six spring-times, welcomed joyously, lovingly watched from the first celandine to the budding of the rose; who shall dare to call it a stinted boon?
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 14, 2025
The administration also hasn’t stinted on disaster aid.
From Seattle Times ● Feb. 28, 2023
Or at least approaches its end, as we did on Saturday, four days before the fall equinox, on a day that may have stinted on true summer heat but supplied generous helpings of humidity.
From Washington Post ● Sep. 18, 2021
Wealthy countries stinted the cash they offered to poor nations to get clean technology.
From BBC ● Jul. 6, 2021
Its authority was not stinted nor hampered by any rights recognized in the constitution as reserved to the States under it.
From The Brothers' War by John Calvin Reed
Without stinting on Singapore expansion plans, Sands could buy back 20% to 30% of its current market capitalization, says Goldman.
From Barron's ● Dec. 23, 2025
And Stutzmann’s work in both Ivo van Hove’s austere “Don Giovanni” and Simon McBurney’s antic “Magic Flute” was superb: lithe but rich, propulsive without being rushed or stinting these scores’ lyricism.
From New York Times ● Jun. 8, 2023
The minor duds — the flea-beetled eggplants, the stinting watermelons — were overshadowed by all the successes, including a surfeit of choice varieties of tomatoes, greens, beans, squashes and okra, to name a few.
From Washington Post ● Dec. 22, 2020
We remain convinced, in contradiction of all the available evidence, that stinting on sleep makes us heroic and industrious, rather than stupid and fat.
From The New Yorker ● Dec. 3, 2018
“No stinting, I see,” Luke said, taking up a fork with a gesture which would have confirmed his aunt’s worst suspicions.
From "The Haunting of Hill House" by Shirley Jackson
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
